Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an X-cube integrated solid optics component, and more particularly pertains to an X-cube integrated solid optics component which comprises an assembly of four right-angle roof-top prisms positioned with the apex of each roof-top prism at the center of the assembly. The assembly defines two mutually orthogonal and intersecting internal planes which intersect at the center of assembly to form four sections of the intersecting internal planes. The four plane sections form up to four or more primary optical channel paths having up to four or more potential inputs IAI, IBI, ICI, IDI and four or more potential outputs IAO, IBO, ICO, and IDO, and the outputs depend upon functionalities provided by the four sections of the intersecting internal planes.
Concepts of space-filling solid optics have been introduced in the past few years to address packaging concerns of opto-electronic systems [M. P. Schamschula, H. J. Caulfield, and A. Brown, xe2x80x9cSpace filling modular optics,xe2x80x9d Opt. Lett., 19 (1994) 689-691; M. P. Schamschula, P. Reardon, H. J. Caulfield, C. F. Hester, xe2x80x9cRegular geometries for folded optical modules,xe2x80x9d Appl. Opt. 34 (1995) 816-827; J. Jahns, xe2x80x9cPlanar packaging of free-space optical interconnection,xe2x80x9d Proc. IEEE, 82 (1994) 1623-1631]. Instead of having to use separate mountings for various discrete optical components, solid optics modules integrate these components together to form a single compact unit.
The present invention concerns a new type of solid optics module, an X-cube, for effective beam splitting and optical filtering. Such beam splitting and filtering functions are becoming integral parts of future local optical interconnections using wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) techniques. In fact, as technology migrates from 1 Gb/s Ethernet to 10-Gb/s Ethernet environments in the near future, methods for handling 4xc3x972.5 Gb/s WDM channels are actively being researched [H. Nakano, S. Tsuji, S. Sasaki, K. Uomi, and K. Yamashita, xe2x80x9c10-Gb/s, 4-channel WDM fiber transmission using semiconductor optical amplifier modulesxe2x80x9d, IEEE J. Lightwave Tech., 11 (1993) 612-618]. Four-channel fiber-based optically functional components and devices will become an active research and development area.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an X-cube integrated solid optics component for optical beam splitting and/or optical filtering. The X-cube component comprises an assembly of four right-angle roof-top prisms positioned with the apex of each roof-top prism at the center of the assembly, such that the assembly defines two mutually orthogonal and intersecting internal planes which intersect at the center of assembly, to form four sections of the intersecting internal planes. The four plane sections form up to four or more primary optical channel paths having up to four or more potential inputs IAI, IBI, ICI, and IDI and four or more potential outputs IAO, IBO, ICO and IDO, and the outputs depend upon functionalities provided by the four sections of the intersecting internal planes.
Denoting intensity transmission coefficients which can be functionally static or dynamic with respect to time, of the four sections of the intersecting internal planes as ta, tb, tc, and td and assuming ideal lossless conditions at the intersecting internal planes, the integrated solid optical module defines the following set of input-output relations,
IAO=IAI(1xe2x88x92ta)(1xe2x88x92td)+IBIta(1xe2x88x92td)+ICItctd+IDI(1xe2x88x92tc)td
IBO=IAIta(1xe2x88x92tb)+IBI(1xe2x88x92ta)(1xe2x88x92tb)+IcI(1xe2x88x92tc)tb+IDItctb
ICO=IAItatb+IBI(1xe2x88x92ta)tb+ICI(1xe2x88x92tc)(1xe2x88x92tb)+IDItc(1xe2x88x92tb)
IDO=IAI(1xe2x88x92ta)td+IBItatd+ICItc(1xe2x88x92td)+IDI(1xe2x88x92tc)(1xe2x88x92td)
Depending upon the transmission coefficients, the X-cube component and the four outputs are used for different applications.